Page:The Indian Antiquary, Vol. 4-1875.djvu/159

 JIG THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [May, 1875. 1 1 esfcroywd Y a 1 a b Ii i. Vanaraja, on acqumnfl these hoards through the agency of Anhal, foun- ed a new city, which he named after him, on the old site ofPattan, whence the name AnhallawadA Pattan. *' Abu and Chandra vati were both from the remotest time held by this tribe, and so were Bhinmal (formerly called Srimal), Palanpur, Tharad, etc. Even in Saurashtra. we find traces of the Parmars. W a d h w a n, supposed to be i he ancient V a r d h a m a n p n r , is said to have been rnledby Parmars in very ancient times; and an inscription lately discoveredin the sonthof this province shows that a Parmar sovereign ruled in W a 1 a k a h e t r a, the modern Walak. In the Administration Report of the Palanpnr Superin- tendency forl8/3-74 1 alluded to the local tradi- tion that Cbadchat, properly Chavadehat, is said to have deriveditsnamefrom the Chads or Cliavadas t a branch of the P a r in u r tribe j, and there seem other reasons for thinking that the Clwvadas were indeed a branch of the Parmars. There is a notorious tendency in the Rijput and other tribes to break up into sub-tribes, and those snb-tribes to go on subdividing, nntil the origin- al name is lost. Thus if yon ask a modern Rajput his tribe, he will tell you that he is a Devani, VacMni, &c, aad it is only on cross- examination that you can elicit that the Devilnis are a sub-tribe of (say) the Jhadejaa, while but (comparatively) few Jhadejaa know that the Jhadejas are only a sub-tribe of the Yadava race. Like instances may be quoted of the Rathod, Chohan, and other famous tribes, where the original tribe appellation has been completely or nearly lost and submerged in the fame of the sub-tribe. Thus the W a j a s, who still survive at J h a u j h m e r and elsewhere in Saurftshtra, are really of the ft a t h o d clan, but ' nom> of the tribe would call himself a Rathod unless pressed. And so the S i r o h i chieftains u liln i -clansmen, who wrestedfromtheParrii'trs Abu and Chandra vuti, though C h oh ti n s, are universally known by the name of their sub- tribe, the D e v r a. In a race of such undoubted antiquity as the Parmar, especially where (sup- posing these speculations correct) one branch, thr Chavadas, attained as sovereigns of Anhalla- Wads such undoubted preeminence, one might, I think, expect to find the name of the original clan obliterated by the surpassing glory of the sub-tribe. The genealogyof Vanaraja is, as is w.II known, traced to Vac h raj a C h a v the father of Venir a j a the lord of Diva- g a d h, now held by the Portuguese. The legend s that Y a c h a r a j a founded the Chavada sovereignty of D i v, where he, and after him VenirAja, ruled. VenirAja betrayed the trust of a merchant who had entrusted him with the valu* able cargoes of his vessels, after having taken the Arabian Sea to witness as to the trnth of his protestations that the merchandise should re- main at Div in safety. "3*he Ocean, indignant at his name being thus taken in vain, over- whelmed Div, Veniraja being drowned in the deluge, which converted Div into an island, anil baa left its traces all along the southern coast of Saurashtra, especially at Div, the Shi.il Island, Piram, Jhanjhmer, &c. *It was on this occasionthatthemotherof Vanaraj a T being, it is said, forewarned in a dream of the destruction which was imminent, fled to P a n c h a s a r . and afterthe destruction of that, township by thesove- reign of Kanauj (?) or Kalyfina (?) she sought refuge in the dense jungle which then clothed that part of Gujarat, and eventually at C h a n d u r gave birth to Vanaraja, who on growing toman's estate became a renowned freebooter and asso- ciate of all the discontented characters of tin.' country, and succeeded on one occasion in inter- cepting the Kananj tribute. *Tho acquisition o!' mi large a sum enabled Mm to be liberal to his followers and to entertain a larger band ; and on the discovery to him of the hidden trea- sures of Pattan by Aiili.il the herdsman, ho was enabled to found the city of A n h a 1 la w u 1 1 i Pattan, afterwards so famous. The genius of the Hindu race has ever been to describe his- torical events in verse, and there exists a famous poem describing the sovereignty of the Clm-:i<las at Div, the founding ofPattan, and the rule of the sovereigns of that famous citv. On disputed points of history, if a disputant can quote a verse of any well-known poem or i a well-known couplet, it is usually accepted among Bhats, Charans, <tc. as conclusive, and in one of the verses of this poem Vanaraj 4 is distinctly mentioned as being a Parmer. I have never met any one who knew the whole poem, which is somewhat long, but the following verses will jwrhaps be sufficient to show the tradition^ regarding the destruction of Div, and the foot] of Vanaraja being a Parmar : —